Rex Tillerson offers peek into State Department redesign plan

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hopes to save as much as $10 billion over five years under his plan to restructure the State Department by better aligning, if not outright merging, it with USAID.

In an email sent to State Department employees Wednesday, Tillerson offered just a glimpse into his plan to reshape the department, a blueprint that he said he would submit to the White House Office of Management and Budget this week.

The redesign effort also includes changes to the U.S. Agency for International Development. It is being watched closely by lawmakers and diplomats on edge over President Donald Trump’s proposed drastic cuts to the foreign affairs budget.

In the email, a copy of which was shared with POLITICO, Tillerson writes that he wants to update the information technology system, offer more flexible programs for employees with families, and further empower the State Department’s top leaders.

His main point, however, focused on ways to better coordinate what the State Department does with what USAID does. Tillerson never explicitly says he wants to merge the two entities, which would probably require congressional approval, but leaves the impression that he wants to eliminate redundancies.

“Our redesign plan seeks to align State and USAID foreign assistance and policy strategies, capabilities, and resources to execute foreign policy priorities more effectively,” Tillerson writes. “It includes several ambitious proposals with investments that will generate a minimum deliverable of 10 percent [$5B] in efficiencies relative to current [FY2017] spending over the next five years, with an aspirational general interest target of up to 20 percent [$10B].”

Tillerson acknowledges that some of his restructuring plans will require congressional approval, but notes that some efforts are already underway. For instance, he is taking steps to reduce the number of special envoys at the department.

The changes will be unveiled “on a rolling basis,” Tillerson said. “Once a solution is ready to go, we’re going to put it to work as soon as we can.”

Some State Department employees were left scratching their heads by the email and eager for more details. “It’s lots of business school buzzwords with no tangible details,” one employee said of Tillerson’s message.

The future of the State Department is of concern to not only its employees but also to lawmakers. Both Republicans and Democrats have put up fierce resistance to Trump’s proposal to cut the department’s and USAID’s annual budget by roughly a third. Tillerson has left numerous top leadership positions at State empty as he has pulled together his restructuring plan, further alarming lawmakers.

A key Senate panel last week passed legislation that kept the level of foreign affairs funding roughly on par with that of recent years, a rebuke to both Trump and Tillerson.